Skip to main content

Random Cells Firing

Sometimes the news makes me shake my head.

Last night there was a story about a nine-year-old girl whose best friend has cancer and has undergone a number of treatments that resulted in her going bald.  The girl shaved her own head so that her friend would not feel so odd about losing all her hair.  The girl was suspended because her school has zero tolerance for dress code infractions and shaved heads are an infraction.  The school board ended up apologizing--as well they should have, in my opinion.

Another major storm hit the New England coast.  Where is it all coming from?The Washington state mudslide is so tragic.  There really is so little we humans have control over and yet we go on acting as though we do.  I heard a geologist saying that the mudslide in this location was inevitable.  Why were houses built there?  Well, people have to live somewhere and I don't know if there is a place on earth that is not vulnerable to some kind of catastrophe.  What can we do except hope for the best and shake our heads when the "inevitable" happens?

I have seen a Pepsi commercial a couple of time now--the point of which is that you can get a small can of Pepsi.  Does this mean that the super-size-me trend is about to turn around?

There was an article about a small (as in tiny) homes trend in the March Ladies Home Journal.  HGTV is also exploring this HERE.  Now, my VT home is way more house than I need, but I don't think I could see myself in one of those little places.  It looks like camping--okay for a few days.

And on the topic of HGTV:  Is anyone else just sick of those home shopping shows where young couples demand gourmet kitchens, open concept floor plan, master bedroom with en suite, etc. etc. -- the "I want everything and I want it right now" starter home?  I am probably just jealous because it is not likely that I will ever have granite countertops and stainless appliances.  MAYBE ... if I move into a teeny, tiny house with a 1' by 2' counter...

This was my last Thursday to volunteer at InStride.  For the past few weeks, the literacy program has been on break so I have been doing side walking with the therapy clients on their horses.  I love their program and have met really nice people there.  I will definitely sign up again next "season" as they say here (season meaning winter when the snow birds are around).

I fly home next Wednesday.  I am planning on a trip back down on June 30 and I will be bringing my grand children down for vacation.  Am I crazy?  Good question!  They will enjoy the beach and the pool, I am sure.







Comments

  1. No you are not crazy...but most of the stuff on TV is NOT worth your time. I think I can safely say that 85% of the programs on TV are not worth my precious time. I mostly watch NPTV and reruns of old shows.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh I get so aggravated with those YOUNG couples who just can't make it with two bathrooms. Also they are so arrogant--what a shame to live like that. I don't think your jealous, you just realize whats really important.
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think your grandkids will have a grand time in Florida.
    Here in Hawaii, we are prone to hurricanes and earthquakes. One of these days, we might end up in the news, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What an interesting post. I reacted to everything. The head shaving story - heard about that on the radio. Zero tolerance policies are so stupid.
    Of course we are living daily with the mud slide news here. Sad and depressing, and the blame game is happening now.
    I will be thinking of you as you return to your Vermont home, the one that is too big, but it's your home, there in the winter that will not end. Bring spring with you!
    HGTV - yep, we watch a lot of it when there is nothing else to watch. I don't even LIKE stainless steel appliances and granite count tops. Kinda tired of hearing how anything ten years old is "so dated". I'm dated!
    The weather in the northeast is just crazy! I feel so sorry for all those suffering the endless winter.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here are my reactions: Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. Good for you. Welcome back north. And Florida at end of June? Now that's an adventure!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Common sense is certainly very common any more. Seriously suspending a child for supporting her friend in such a loving way. Wow!

    I'm with you on the HGTV shows. I used to watching an old home turn into something clear and bright..but seriously stainless steel and granite. Pretty soon those will be passe and it will be harvest gold and concrete or some combination (ewww!)

    Hope the improves over the next few weeks so you don't go home to the storms.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hands off for that lovely girl supporting her friend! Very often we are hearing storm now a days!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The money young people have is astounding. Even those qualifying as poor, have more than I had as a young middle class person. We waste more than we use. We have lost all empathy and sympathy. I try so hard to believe that we are evolving in the right direction but it becomes more difficult every day to see that view clearly.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Zero tolerance means that administrators can go through life with their brains turned off. Years ago a kindergarten kid was suspended for violating the weapons code. His crime, his fireman's costume for the halloween party included a small plastic fireman's axe. A couple years ago a first grader boy was charged with sexual harassment. He had been bullied on the playground knocked down, bleeding and crying. His female teacher went to comfort him and he buried his face in her bosom. About 5 years ago, two 14 year old girls sent topless photos of themselves to their boyfriends. I never found out what the final ruling was but they were arrested and were looking at spending their teens in juvie, and finishing a 10 year sentence in adult prison and being on a sex offenders list for two decades for distributing child pornography. Their 18 year old siblings, BTW have a constitutional right of self expression to do the same thing, although they may want to include a newspaper with the date on it in the photo just to prevent any misunderstandings about how old they were when the photo was taken.

    When I was 7 years old, I got a rather good ass warming for doing a strip tease down in the woods for some older girls. It comforts me to know that today both my mother and I would be arrested and imprisoned. Her for child abuse and making terroristic threats and me for full frontal child nudity, the corruption of minors, and possibly hate crimes. While doing our nude dance, we were singing "all the girls in France, they don't wear no underpants."

    Criminal justice! It makes you proud, don't it?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Just think,if those young couples hadn't had $75000 weddings, they could have granite counter tops. Need to put them in one of those tiny houses for at least a year. I am so glad I started out with orange crates for night stands.
    Hope Vt calms down for your return.

    ReplyDelete
  11. For these reasons that you stated, I seldom watch TV. The girl who shaved her head lives where my mom lives. My husband pointed out that the school was a charter school. One board member is still against the ruling to reinstate her. I guess it takes all kinds.

    I just noticed our new profile picture and the write-up that goes with. I loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. WOW your mind races around like mine!
    here we have adds for a new Pepsi called Pepsi NEXT with real sweetener but only 30%. Just imagine the stores with less drinks on their shelves. The sugary water takes up a huge amount of space in all shops. And they keep adding more.
    I bey those house shows are not really much more than fancy commercials for the real estate industry or even the travel one?
    The idea of sending out TV messages with some values added has gone.
    A nearby mayor here is seeking to be re elected by getting on US comedy and other networks. Not sure how the city benefits? But it sure has put the city and locals on the map in a different light.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I was outraged over that little girl being suspended too when I heard it on the news. Have some common sense people! I had seen the Pepsi commercials, too but hadn't thought about the hope that it might be the end to super size! We were watching a show about southern California in the 50s and 60s and one thing that certainly stood out was that most of the people were 20 or 30 pounds thinner than they would be if it were filmed today! My soapbox. Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  14. You live such an interesting and fruitful life. You make some excellent point, too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I appreciate readers' comments so much. You don't even always have to agree with me.

Popular posts from this blog

It's TIme

 It's been a while since I have posted anything and even my reading your posts is falling by the wayside. I am in Florida now. I have a yard where little attention was spent on landscaping for the past years so I am slowly and (somewhat) methodically addressing that. I also volunteer to work at the pollinator garden and the edible garden I helped install at the UU grounds and I took over the volunteer job of cleaning out the overgrown community garden by my neighborhood mailboxes. The neighbor who was doing that got sick and could no longer attend to it. It's a bigger job than I'd thought at first -- not only overgrown with weeds, but the plants that are wanted there are in life and death competition for each others' spaces. And two walks a day, morning and evening, so Levi can keep up with addiction to canine social media and a daily rousing came of stick or ball midday take up another chunk of my time. I have a weekly meditation group that I co-facilitate, and my own ...

New Furniture

 We went shopping for a new couch. I liked this one, the first store we went to. Of course it would be an impulse to buy the first one so we trekked around to other stores -- something we liked more, a better deal? No surprise that we ended up going back to that first store the next day and purchasing that couch for our living room. Also a matching love seat for the den where we watch TV. Because I had replaced my old love seat with two recliners. We couldn't keep three households worth of furniture after all. Well, my recliner was not big enough to accommodate both Levi and me. Poor boy had to watch TV from his bed on the floor. There! This is much better! Spoiled much? The little tail on the floor belongs to his toy squirrel, Buddy. It's like having a toddler with the need to be picking up toys or risk tripping over them. But his very favorite play thing is that bathmat that can be found anywhere but the bathroom floor.

Walking

 I have always been a walker. Now that I have a high energy dog there is no excuse for not getting out there. And the weather is not an interfering factor here. Early morning and early evening are our preferred times so even when it gets hot we should be okay. We can get quite a long walk going around the neighborhood, greeting neighbors out working in their yards or walking their own dogs. But the landscape changes quickly just beyond the confines of the housing developments. It could be described as natural Florida or as sites of future housing developments. I do prefer the first option. And I really enjoy being out in natural areas so I often opt to head to a nature setting. I would have liked to put a picture here. Unfortunately my iPhone has made a unilateral decision. It will no longer be sending my photos to my computer. Why? I have no idea. However, we may be walking along happily enough -- me listening to the birds or trying to identify wildflowers and other plants while L...